Delectable Wine

Follow to learn about our favorite wines & people.

9.6

The 2015 Pichon Lalande has a sophisticated bouquet of blackberry, pencil shavings, black pepper and discreet touches of wild mint, all beautifully defined and focused. There is some quality Cabernet here. The palate is medium-bodied with
fine-grained tannin, superb acidity, gentle grip and satisfying tension toward the fresh, vivid finish. One of the best Pauillacs of 2015, this is a magnificent wine from Nicolas Glumineau and his team. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting. (Neal Martin, Vinous, July 2019) — 6 years ago

Greg Wright

9.4

Vinous rise Champagne with kirsch, fresh herbs, blood orange. Impressive and balanced! Fascinating to follow over the course of dinner. — 7 years ago

Delectable Wine

Follow to learn about our favorite wines & people.

9.5

The 2014 Léoville Las-Cases has a (typically) more introverted, tertiary, austere bouquet compared to the Léoville Barton. Despite coaxing it does not possess much lift – sullen, a wine with a "Closed" sign dangling on the front door. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, solid with a sweet core, nicely proportion but just not quite conveying the same joie-de-vivre and energy as its peers. "Perhaps it is saving everything for later?" are the words I penned before this wine's identity is revealed...well, I should have known. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. (Neal Martin, Vinous, March 2018) — 8 years ago

Delectable Wine

Follow to learn about our favorite wines & people.

9.8

The 2015 Lafleur has a broody but intense bouquet with exquisite definition and top quality Cabernet
Franc showing through. This just has to be Lafleur! The palate is extremely well balanced with gentle grip, almost powdery in texture and demonstrating enormous depth and persistence on the finish. It is nowhere near ready but it will be a wonderful Pomerol. There is a sense of audacity here that is compelling. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting. (Neal Martin, Vinous, July 2019) — 6 years ago

Delectable Wine

Follow to learn about our favorite wines & people.

9.3

Good medium red; not particularly saturated but with a healthy rim. Alluringly scented, wild-yet-somehow-refined aromas of musky raspberry, strawberry, rose petal, brown spices, cedar, underbrush and coffee; this smells sweet! Silky, stylish and weightless, showing lovely stemmy definition and lift to its flavors of wild red berries, mocha and dried flowers. Not a particularly dense or fleshy style but an alluring, vibrant drink that's perfect right now. In fact, in spite of its intense fruit component this wine may only thin out from here. This subtle, elegant Clos des Lambrays finishes with a firm dusting of tannins and a light touch. (13.7% alcohol; 3.59 pH; 3.5 g/l acidity) (Stephen Tanzer, Vinous, April 2019) — 7 years ago

Janet Nguyen

10

My fav desert wine! I have yet found anything similar or better.. any recommendations? I would love to find or should i say TASTE more like this.... — 8 years ago

Adam Jesberger

9.8

Fantastic, more towards a peak age than i thought it would be. This is drinking spectacularly right now, tasting like a vinous bordeaux. Extremely lengthy finish. — 10 years ago

Delectable Wine

Follow to learn about our favorite wines & people.

9.7

The 2015 Canon has a tightly wound bouquet with mineral rich black fruit, raspberry coulis, rose
petal and desiccated orange peel. It takes time to come together, but it does. The palate is well defined, very focused with fine minerality. This is discreet but beautifully balanced, clean and precise with a sense of energy and precision on the finish. It is less showy than its peers at the moment, which
explains why I am more parsimonious with my score. Yet the potential is locked inside this wine and it will aspire toward perfection with a decade in bottle.Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting. (Neal Martin, Vinous, July 2019) — 6 years ago

Delectable Wine

Follow to learn about our favorite wines & people.

9.7

The 1990 Cristal is remarkable. Polished, nuanced and light on its feet, the 1990 is all class. Citrus, orchard fruit and floral notes are wonderfully lifted throughout. A slight reductive note adds character on the finely knit finish. I can’t think of a better way to start this tasting. Simply put, the 1990 is a total rock star. Moreover, it is much more delicate than most wines from this ripe vintage. Amazingly, the 1990 tastes like it is still not ready! “Nineteen ninety was my second vintage here,” says Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon. “It was ideal. The fruit was just perfect. We blocked the malolactic fermentation completely and only fermented 6-7% of our lots in oak, as opposed to the more typical 20%, in order to preserve as much freshness as possible. The wine was made by my predecessor, Michel Pansu, but I was learning. This was the first year I started working with oxygen by reducing sulfites in vinification to pre-oxidize the Chardonnay musts, as I do know, which allows me to get rid of all the unstable, oxidative compounds. With Pinot, on the other hand, you need a little bit of sulfur at crush or you lose the brilliant fruit. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, December 2018) — 7 years ago

Delectable Wine

Follow to learn about our favorite wines & people.

9.8

The 2012 Dominus is a real head-turner. Flashy, voluptuous and intense, but with tons of underlying concentration, the 2012 is simply magnificent. A towering, vertical Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2012 Dominus is one of the most concentrated wines of the vintage, yet it also maintains considerable freshness, the signature of a late-ripening vintage with no heat spikes. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, Oct 2015) — 9 years ago